Love Beyond Time

by Rebecca Royce

  who is supposed to do it. Period. End of story." She thought

  she had done a pretty good job of taking on his dictatorial

  tone.

  There was a long pregnant pause between them and

  Isabelle could hear Kal's heart beating, she could literally

  feel it in her head. Her mouth was dry, she didn't usually

  give long assertive speeches. She picked up her water glass

  and took a long sip, maintaining eye contact with Kal the

  whole time. She decided it wasn't a good time to be reading

  his thoughts as he looked the most out of control she had

  seen him. It was, after all just two days till the full moon. In

  college this would be the time that he would have opted to

  leave and not be around people. It was probably not a good

  time to bring up to him her theory about all of the vampire,

  werewolf, and fae myths have really all stemmed from

  humans finding out about the Outsiders. He didn't seem to

  be in any kind of philosophical mood.

  She wasn't really worried about him hurting her, she

  knew without a doubt that Kal would never do that, but she

  was worried about him doing something to harm himself.

  There was no choice but to let her go back in time and try

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  to contact Abraxas and she was going to do it whether he

  agreed or not, but she would prefer him to be on board.

  "You understand, don't you, that I can't let anything

  happen to you. That if something were to actually happen

  to you, I might go insane and start committing felonies and

  horrendous acts that I wouldn't be able to control?" Kal

  stated simply, his eyes hooding and if possible getting even

  darker. Isabelle could see in his eyes and hear in his tone

  that he meant every word that he said.

  "I don't think you would do that, Kal. You have too

  much self control, too much discipline. You've earned that

  control and discipline. Hell, five minutes with Veli and I

  was ready to nominate you for sainthood. But I appreciate

  that you care for me and that you want to see me safe."

  Isabelle could feel tears starting in her eyes and she tried to

  suppress them. It had been a long week, she had lost her

  parents and found Kal all at once. So much joy was coupled

  with so much agony, even if the awfulness had been

  tempered a little bit.

  "I don't just care for you, Isabelle. I would die for

  you, I would kill for you, and I would find a way to move

  the sun, if that was what you desired. I love you with every

  ounce of my being and every part of my soul. I love you the

  way people are only supposed to love in fairytales. My love

  for you is bordering on madness, obsession. I woke up this

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  morning and you weren't next to me in bed. I was hard for

  you, desperate to be inside you again and when you weren't

  there my first thought was not curiosity about where you

  had gone but anger about who I had to kill to get you back

  with me."

  Isabelle could feel her own pulse pounding in her

  head. She hated to admit that she found this side of Kal so

  sexy. She had never thought herself a person who liked

  violence but with the way he radiated energy, she knew he

  was capable of brutality and strength the depth of which

  she couldn't fathom and yet she knew that he kept himself

  in check, all of which really turned her on. He was brutal in

  his self-control. He would never think of himself this way

  but when he was at his most tense and frightening was

  when he was also the most vulnerable—at least to her. He

  could kill and destroy anything in the world but not her,

  never her. She was safer because he was so capable of

  extreme action. She didn't know what it said about her but

  somehow thinking about him in that way could make her

  start to feel wet inside.

  "Does it frighten you?" He crossed over towards

  her. "Can you see the beast in me? You can read my mind

  and I can't read yours. Do you see things that make your

  skin crawl? Do you wish fate had been kinder and attached

  you to someone else? Because I won't give you up, I can

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  never give you up." He put both hands on the bed around

  her, pushing her down on her back so that was on top of her

  with one of his knees in between her legs, opening her up.

  He pushed up slightly, his knee causing a wave of pleasure

  to pass through her body.

  "I'm not afraid of you, Kal. Just the opposite. I can

  read your mind, I can feel the currents moving through

  your body more intently tonight than last night, making you

  feel on edge and the things you feel for me, I feel for you

  too. I love you with a passion I shouldn't feel after so short

  a time. I love you in ways I didn't know were possible. I

  ache from loving you and before yesterday I've only known

  you in dreams."

  She pushed up to claim his mouth with her own.

  Kal was always so responsible for everything and

  everyone. His family needed him, relied on him, and

  resented him at the same time for their need of him, making

  him feel like he was frightening and out of control. She

  wondered in his current state if he could handle being

  bossed around a little bit.

  "I want to get on top of you," she whispered

  lovingly in his ear. "I want it right now."

  "My god." He laughed, flipping her over so that she

  could be on top, so that she could control their lovemaking.

  "I want your clothes off now, my warrior." She took

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  on the authoritative tone she heard him use so frequently

  with others. She started pulling on his shirt and his pants;

  he helped her by sliding his jeans off his hips.

  "You don't know this because you can't read my

  mind," she continued, "but when I was in college, I would

  lie in my bed at night and dream that I was with a very

  strong man. I was on a hill top, waiting for him to come

  back from a battle he had been fighting. I knew he would

  be hot and bothered and sore from the fight still raging

  within him. I had been worried for nights and desperate for

  a release of my own. He would come to me then, still

  wearing his armor and he would take me hard and fast on

  that hill as I begged him for release. I would wake up in my

  bed and be wet and hot with no idea what to do about it.

  You know that I was somehow dreaming of you, don't you?

  I've loved you since before I knew you existed."

  She slid down his body towards his hard rod that

  was already glistening wet. She loved that she could have

  this effect on him and without another thought sank her

  mouth onto his hard erection. He let out a hiss from his

  mouth.

  "Oh god, love, what you are doing to me, I don't

  know how long I can hang on and I
want to be deep inside

  of you when I come."

  He was practically begging and her mouth sank

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  lower and lower on top of him, sucking hard. With her right

  hand she began squeezing where her mouth couldn't reach

  and his hips thrust off the bed. She was getting hotter and

  hotter with the anticipation and expectation of what was to

  come next. How long could she control him like this, she

  wondered. She knew Kal wanted to take the control back

  from her, desperately, but she wasn't through having her

  fun with him and sank even deeper, letting her teeth gently

  scrape him as she came up, her left hand squeezing his

  balls.

  "Isabelle!" He shouted in a voice that sounded low

  and foreign. He pulled her finally on top of him and rolled

  them to the other side of the bed, regaining the top position.

  "You are the most incredible woman I have ever known."

  His mouth took possession of hers as his tongue started a

  brutal assault on her mouth.

  Isabelle wasn't sure how many times he kissed her

  but it was hard and it was hot. She was so stupefied by the

  experience that she barely noticed that he had lifted her legs

  up and wrapped them around his waist. Quickly he thrust

  deeply inside of her, pushing them both towards the

  headboard of the bed. His free hand stopped the ascent and

  braced them so neither one of them was banging into it as

  his hips began their steady hard rhythm to claim her as his

  own.

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  His lovemaking was different this time. The night

  before he had been careful and protective of her needs,

  knowing it was her first time but tonight he had started out

  edgy and she had provoked him into even more of a daze.

  He was taking total possession of her body, roughly, and

  she loved every second of it. She could feel the pressure

  starting inside of her again and she knew her release would

  come soon. It hit her hard and she screamed his name,

  scraping his back with her hands. But Kal wasn't finished

  with her yet. His member continued to pillage her as his

  hand joined in the fun, finding her most sensitive spot and

  squeezing it. She screamed in pleasure and her hips came

  off the bed harder as she came again and again with him.

  Finally, he succumbed, joining her in the ecstatic state that

  she was lost in.

  * * * *

  Isabelle had drifted off into a light sleep. He could

  see her lids fluttering slightly over her closed eyes. He had

  to keep reminding himself that while she was one of them,

  she was new to the powers she possessed and they were

  draining to her. He had taken her roughly and savagely

  without the tender care she deserved. He should take off

  and leave her until the moon was gone. He would leave this

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  very second if she didn't have an unthinkable task ahead of

  her. There was no way he wasn't going to be anywhere but

  right next to her the whole time she travelled, hoping

  beyond hope that she came back to him safe and sound.

  Isabelle roused slightly and Kal winced. Had she

  been reading his thoughts and woken up or had she been

  waiting for him in their spot and he hadn't shown up? She

  opened her eyes to stare into his and pushed up on one arm

  to observe him more closely.

  "You don't sleep, even when you should be beyond

  exhausted. We're going to work on that." She lovingly

  brushed the hair out of his eyes.

  "Did I hurt you?" His eyes were slightly moist. The

  littlest things that Isabelle did touched his heart so deeply.

  Did she know that, he wondered?

  "Do I look hurt to you?" she answered, laughing at

  him. "I'm a tough girl, my love. Remember, I was made for

  you, that means I can take whatever you can dish out."

  She was teasing him and he loved the feel of it.

  "Don't tempt me, Isabelle. You need your sleep so

  you can practice tomorrow. Don't think I don't know what

  just occurred here. You totally manipulated me with sex. I

  know that's what just happened and for the record, I'm fine

  with it." He laughed out loud. "Did you successfully time

  travel at all today?" He needed to know what she was about

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  to endure.

  "Yes. I moved back a couple of times and made

  contact with both Veli and Leonardo. It's kind of weird to

  see myself when I do it but that's okay. I'm getting used to

  it more and more. At first I was so freaked out because I'd

  be standing in the room discussing the jump I was about to

  do and then I'd see myself suddenly appear. It was tough to

  handle but it also, in a strange way, helped me. I realized

  that because I'd seen myself do it, I knew I could do it. It

  had to work. I had seen myself do it. Does that make

  sense?"

  "Strangely it does." Kal laughed. "In a kind of

  weird, late night television sci-fi kind of way."

  "I don't feel quite as hot when I do it now. I don't

  feel like I might explode," she replied, lazily stretching her

  arms over her head like a cat. "I feel like I could sleep for a

  week. Why are you wide awake?"

  "And Leonardo thinks he can pick the right time to

  speak to Abraxas without Abraxas altering anything to

  change the future?" He had ignored her question but he

  knew that he wasn't going to get any sleep until he had

  quieted his mind from the marathon it was running. Kal

  didn't want Abraxas to make anything worse. The former

  leader had screwed up enough once and didn't need the

  problems that came with foresight to make it worse on all

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  of them. What if he decided not to send the children at all?

  Veli had been a parental nightmare but even Kal knew that

  Veli was preferable to ceasing to exist all together, which

  was inevitable if they all got left with their parents who had

  obviously died at the ends of the Darkness.

  "Leonardo thinks he can control the energy enough

  to take me back to the moments when we were doing the

  transfer before Abraxas was taken but after the point in

  which we were sent. This would mean I could actually

  communicate with Abraxas and not screw up too much of

  the future."

  "It's not a question of my doubting you. I have a

  problem with anything that might take you from me

  permanently. Heaven help the world if that ever happens.

  You are all that separates me from becoming something

  truly horrendous."

  She started to protest and he raised his hand to stop

  her, stroking her cheek. There was no point in arguing. This

  had to happen so he had to do something he hadn't done in

  a very long time—trust fate to take care of them all.

/>   * * * *

  They lay together in companionable silence

  listening to the sounds out back. A crow called out in the

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  distance and further away another one answered. The ocean

  was a distant hum and the crickets had come out to warm

  the night with their music. It seemed the wrong time of year

  for crickets but then again the island was laden with magic,

  who knew what was true here that wasn't true elsewhere,

  Isabelle thought. She'd have to ask Marina as she was sure

  that Kal wouldn't know. She rolled onto her side and started

  stroking his chest with her fingers. His eyes were closed

  and his breathing was becoming even and she suspected

  that he was finally falling asleep.

  "You told me you loved me." Kal didn't open his

  eyes.

  "I did." She sighed. "You told me you loved me."

  She laughed into his ear.

  "In my whole life, no one has ever said that to me

  before. You can't die and take that away from me. I can't

  see the light that is you and then walk alone in the world

  again. I'm young but my soul feels very old. I think it was

  almost dead without you in my life."

  Isabelle wasn't sure but she thought she might have

  seen tears glistening in his eyes.

  "I'm not going anywhere, Kal. Didn't you know that

  the good guys are going to win this one?" She paused when

  he didn't smile and answer. "I was speaking with Veli today

  and he told me that men and women after they were

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  married would go away for a while to be together, to join

  together and then they would come back months later truly

  joined. He said it was a time to reestablish control of their

  emotions because everything with your other half feels so